Kyle Mills / Post Independent
Glenwood Springs senior Amos Wilson leads a pack of 15 Garfield County prep wrestlers to the state tournament at the Pepsi Center in Denver Feb. 20-22.
Wilson (36-4) won the 182-pound championship at the Class 3A Regionals in Delta on Saturday, en route to earning the No. 1 seed in his weight classification for the state meet.
At Regionals, Wilson wrestled his way into the championship match against Zebuel Alexander of Gunnison, winning by fall in 1:46. He’ll face Christian Scanderett (5-7) of Resurrection Christian in the first round of the state tournament on Thursday.
Two other area wrestlers won Regional titles on Saturday: Rifle senior Cauy Smith (32-4) at 126 pounds, and Basalt’s Ernesto Lopez (29-3) at 285 pounds.
Kyle Mills/Post Independent
Smith won by virtue of a 6-2 decision over Grand Valley’s Hector De la Cruz, who also qualifies for state. Both will enter state as mid-range seeds — Smith facing Daniel Matthews (32-7) of Valley to open the tournament, and De la Cruz (30-10) taking the mat against Seth Marick (40-12) of Sterling.
Lopez will be one one of two Basalt representatives at the 3A state meet.
He defeated Grand Valley’s Hayden Grice by fall in 3:07 for the Regional win, and will face Ryan Metzger (8-15) of La Junta on Thursday to open the state tournament.
Joining Lopez will be Longhorns’ wrestler Ruben Samuelson (37-1) at 170 pounds. The Roaring Fork High student who wrestles for Basalt took second at Regionals, losing a 6-0 decision to Hunter Smith of Alamosa. He’ll face No. 2 seed Randy Duran (31-8) of Jefferson to open the state meet.
Other state qualifiers from area high schools and their opening matchups include:
106 pounds — Rifle sophomore Hunter Bercher (23-11 and fourth at Regionals) vs. No. 5 Matthew Medina (33-5) of Eagle Valley.
120 pounds — Rifle sophomore Caleb Gieselman (19-6 and fourth at Regionals) vs. No. 5 Nadim Karger (35-6) from Sky View.
132 pounds — Rifle senior Talon Cordova (29-13 and fourth at Regionals) vs. No. 1 seed junior Zane Rankin (32-1) of Lamar.
138 pounds — Rifle junior Bryce Rowley (41-12 and third at Regionals) vs. No. 3 Talyn Massie (27-11) of Berthoud; and Glenwood Springs senior Erik Krauth (30-12 and fourth at Regionals) vs. Isaiah Rios (36-2) from Valley.
152 pounds — Grand Valley senior Conrad Demann (18-8 and fourth at Regionals) vs. Walker Kee (17-6) of Lamar.
160 pounds -— Rifle senior Dillon Tiffany (24-6 and second at Regionals) vs. Cole Nading (28-10) of Mullen.
195 pounds -— Rifle junior Alex Guardado (33-13 and fourth at Regionals) vs. Enoc Macias-Castilo (36-5) of Arvada
285 pounds — Grand Valley senior Hayden Grice (31-11 and second at Regionals) vs. Kyle Good (32-12) James Irwin; and Rifle senior Alejandro Robles (32-15 and fourth at Regionals) vs. Sy Spitz (21-4) of Lamar.